Hunger amid plenty: The moral dilemmas of farming, food and poverty

Posted on November 17th, 2009

Archived in Current edition, Food and agriculture, Poverty and welfare, Social issues, Writing

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Thanksgiving is a time when most Americans celebrate their bounty — and anti-poverty groups remind them how many others still go hungry. But this year the urgency is even greater, and the problems go well beyond a seasonal appeal. Indeed, the land of plenty has plenty of people experiencing hunger, as new reports show.

hungerThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual report on the incidence of hunger, released Monday, Nov. 16, revealed the highest rate of “food insecurity” since the USDA began tracking the measurement in 1995.

More than one in seven American households was described in the report as “food insecure.” This term means a household does not have regular and reliable access to nutritious food. (Read the full report here.)

The 17 million households categorized as food insecure represents an increase from 13 million households in 2007.

The reasons are not hard to find, experts say. The economy is tottering toward what’s been described as a jobless recovery, unemployment is in double digits and the poverty rate is up to 13.2 percent. Advocates argue that America can and should end hunger, and religious groups and people of faith are at the forefront of the effort.

At the same time, some hunger advocates are promoting fresh ways of thinking about the problem – and even suggesting that traditional approaches may be more Band-Aid than blessing.

Former food bank director Mark Winne, for example, argued provocatively in his 2008 book, Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty, that food banks are futile charitable efforts and that resources would be better directed toward public policy changes. Other advocates want to refocus ideas about food supply: eating more nutritious and local food, to decrease dependence on remote sources and increase responsibility for providing one’s own food. Religious groups are among those putting more emphasis on advocacy, systemic reform, ending poverty and rethinking what it means to put food on the table.

Why it matters

Caring for the poor and hungry is a central tenet of religious traditions, and religious groups operate the majority of soup kitchens and food banks across the country. The persistence of hunger — despite agricultural productivity and a highly developed food distribution system — also raises a basic question about American institutions and citizens’ political will: Why are people still without adequate food?

Angles for reporters

This is pre-eminently a local story as well as a familiar story; new numbers change the picture and provide nuance. Every state has a network of agencies and organizations that deal with hunger. What is the picture in your state? How is the economy coming back, or isn’t it? How adequate is the support for those who have fallen on hard times? What about low-wage workers? What do officials say? What do those on the front lines – standing in food lines or handing out groceries or meals – say?

Some anti-hunger organizations are working on the larger context of food supplies for communities. They are promoting community gardens, sustainable agriculture, relationships between farmers and communities, and economic justice for food producers. They say sustainability of food production and consumption is fundamental to community food security. What kind of links, if any, are there between your local groups concerned about the Earth and creation care and those working on poverty and hunger?

Anti-poverty and anti-hunger activism is often attractive to young people. Bread for the World’s blog, for example, has a number of young contributors. High schools and colleges organize and participate in events that raise awareness and/or funding. What is happening at your local schools and campuses?

In addition to the familiar Christian-based food services, other religious groups operate relief centers and engage in other anti-hunger initiatives. Many Buddhist centers, for example, prepare or distribute food to homeless people as a compassionate service. If you have local Buddhist groups, ask them about their community service and how they understand the practice. Charity is one of the five pillars of Islam, and Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice, is celebrated by giving away meat or some equivalent donation. The Muslims Against Hunger Project works to involve Muslims in efforts to combat hunger and homelessness. What kinds of projects are local Muslims involved in?

Does the holiday of Thanksgiving – America’s biggest meal – provide an occasion for people to think about community food supply and sufficiency, or to do things differently?

Background

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015, and his administration has promised a commitment to child nutrition.

STATISTICS AND RESEARCH

  • On Nov. 23, three days before Thanksgiving, Bread for the World will release its annual survey and analysis on the state of hunger around the globe. ReligionLink will update this edition with the latest information.
  • In the United States, the USDA’s annual report (press release here) showed that food insecurity increased in 2008 by 3.5 percent, the biggest annual increase in since the USDA began publishing the data in 1995.
  • Citing the worldwide economic crisis, declining aid and investment in agriculture, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported in October that a record 1 billion people in the world were hungry.
  • Feeding America, the nation’s network of food banks, reported in September on increased demand because of the recession.
  • The number of people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aid – formerly called food stamps – has increased every month since October 2008 to a record 36.5 million in August 2009, a 24 percent increase in a year.
  • The USDA’s Economic Research Service is a treasure house of authoritative statistics. It does an annual survey of “food insecurity” in the U.S. to track trends and economic and geographic characteristics of households experiencing hunger. This briefing provides detailed statistics for food security in 2007,  including by state. Mark Nord, a sociologist, is food security and hunger analyst at the research service. Contact Nord, 202-694-5433, marknord@ers.usda.gov; contact the ERS press office, 202-694-5139.
  • Feeding America, the country’s largest charitable hunger-relief organization, distributes food to food banks. A 2009 report on food insecurity among children found that one child in six lives at risk of hunger in 26 states in the country. Its 2007 Almanac of Hunger and Poverty ranks states on key indicators of hunger and poverty. Contact through Ross Fraser, media relations manager, 312-641-6422, rfraser@secondharvest.org.
  • People who work with food policy and nutrition know that child nutrition is a top priority because malnutrition can cripple child development. Read a September 2009 USDA report on the prevalence of food insecurity in households with children.
  • An analysis in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine estimates that around half of all American children and 90 percent of African-American children will be on food stamps at some point during childhood.
  • According to a national study sponsored by the Meals on Wheels Association of America Foundation and Harrah’s Foundation, 11.4 percent of America’s senior citizens — more than 5 million people in that age group – experienced food insecurity during the first half of this decade.
  • The Sodexo Foundation released a report in June 2007 that found that the U.S. pays $90 billion a year – or $800 per household – directly or indirectly for the effects of hunger (hunger-related charities, illness and psychosocial dysfunction and the impact of less education/lower productivity).
  • Food Research and Action Center is a Washington, D.C., advocacy group. The organization maintains state-by-state profiles with statistics about poverty and food insecurity. Jennifer Adach is communications coordinator. Contact 202-986-2200.

ARTICLES

  • Read a Nov. 2, 2009, USA Today article about a study showing that half of all American children will live in a household that gets food stamps at some point in their childhood.
  • Read a Sept. 19, 2009, New York Times story, “So Much Food. So Much Hunger,” about the persistence of hunger in the world — affecting a billion people, the United Nations estimates — even though the world produces enough food to feed everyone.
Regional sources

National sources

Northwest Northeast Northwest West Southwest Midwest South Southeast East

SECULAR ORGANIZATIONS

  • The Alliance to End Hunger is a coalition of groups across cultures and faiths that fosters partnerships to end hunger in the world. It was begun by David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. Tony P. Hall, a former Ohio congressional representative who founded the Congressional Hunger Center, is director. Contact him, 202-639-9400 ext. 192.
  • Community Food Security Coalition does advocacy, education and training on issues of food production and distribution to build sustainable and local food supplies. It includes member groups from the U.S. and Canada. Andy Fisher is executive director of the Portland, Ore., group. Contact 503-954-2970, andy@foodsecurity.org.
  • The bipartisan Congressional Hunger Center, which grew out of the U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger, trains anti-hunger advocates. A number of members of Congress are on its board; Edward M. Cooney is executive director. Contact him, 202-547-7022 ext. 14.
  • Feeding America, the country’s largest charitable hunger-relief organization, distributes food to food banks and works on policy. A 2009 survey on child hunger reports that one in six young children experienced “food insecurity,” which means lack of access to nutritious food. A September 2009 survey of food banks showed an average increase in demand of 30 percent between summer 2008 and summer 2009. Vicki B. Escarra is president and CEO of the Chicago-based organization. Contact through Ross Fraser, media relations manager, 312-641-6422, rfraser@secondharvest.org.
  • Food Research and Action Center is a Washington, D.C., advocacy group working on public policy and public-private partnerships on food and hunger issues. The organization maintains state-by-state profiles with statistics about poverty and food insecurity. James D. Weill is president, and Jennifer Adach is communications coordinator. Contact 202-986-2200.
  • The National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness educates and trains students to work on hunger and homelessness issues. It’s based in Chicago. Contact organizing director Stacey Hafner, 312-291-0349 ext. 302, stacey@studentsagainsthunger.org.
  • RESULTS is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., that works to create the political will to end hunger. Contact executive director Joanne Carter, 202-783-7100, carter@results.org.
  • Share Our Strength, an anti-hunger organization based in Washington, D.C., focuses on ending childhood hunger in America. Bill Shore is founder and executive director. Contact him through communications director Margie Fleming Glennon, 202-478-6549.
  • The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the organization of American cities with populations of 30,000 or greater, has been surveying hunger and homelessness in urban areas for more than two decades. The 2009 survey will be released Dec. 8. Contact Elena Temple at the Washington, D.C.,-based conference, 202-861-6719, etemple@usmayors.org.
  • World Hunger Year is a New York-based organization that focuses on hunger and poverty nationally and internationally. Among its programs is the USDA National Hunger Clearinghouse, which maintains a directory of organizations that work on hunger and poverty issues. The directory is searchable by state. Bill Ayres is executive director; contact 212-629-8850.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

  • Bread for the World is a Christian lobby group calling for both charity and justice in its advocacy efforts. President David Beckmann, a clergyman and economist, is one of the leading spokesmen in the faith community on hunger issues. He testified before Congress on Oct. 29, 2009, in support of the U.S. Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative, an Obama administration effort to improve access to food and support agricultural development by vulnerable populations. Bread for the World will release the report “A Just and Sustainable Recovery” on Nov. 23. Contact press officer Shawnda Hines, 202-509-3674.
  • Catholic Charities USA focuses on hunger as part of its work to reduce poverty. It surveys local affiliates quarterly to pinpoint trends; 75 percent reported increases in requests for food assistance in the second quarter of 2009. Roger Conner is senior director of communications, 703-236-6218, rconner@catholiccharitiesusa.org.
  • The ELCA World Hunger program helps alleviate hunger through advocacy, education, relief and sustainable development. Contact 773-380-2764, hunger@elca.org.
  • Foods Resource Bank is made up of 15 Christian denominations and agencies that work at the grass roots with farmers and communities to develop local food security. Modeled after a Canadian program, it has both overseas and U.S. projects. Contact Marv Baldwin, president and CEO of the group, which has offices in Illinois and Michigan, 312-612-1939.
  • Hindu American Seva Charities is calling for more concerted and visible community service by Hindu Americans in their communities. Anju Bhargava is among the founders; she is a member of Obama’s Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Contact apbhargava@aol.com.
  • The humanitarian organization Islamic Relief USA has a number of assistance campaigns, including one dealing with global food insecurity. Mostafa Mahboob is media relations representative. Contact 714-676-1305.
  • MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a Los Angeles-based program which funds advocacy and food distribution; it is supported by a spectrum of Jewish groups. H. Eric Schockman is president. Contact 310-442-0020 ext. 101, eschockman@mazon.org.
  • The Muslims Against Hunger Project works to involve Muslims in efforts to combat hunger and homelessness. Contact in New Jersey, 908-364-4441.
  • Presbyterian Hunger Program is a ministry responding to hunger and poverty domestically and abroad. Andrew Kang Bartlett is the program associate in charge of national hunger concerns. Contact Kang Bartlett, 800-728-7228 ext. 5388, andrew.kangbartlett@pcusa.org.
  • The Salvation Army provided 69 million meals through a variety of programs and services. It has a network of state and regional media contacts. Reach national media contacts at 703-647-4799, or Matt Meenan of Xenophon Strategies, 202-289-4001, both in the Washington, D.C., area.
  • The Society of St. Andrew in Big Island, Va., was founded in 1979 and began salvaging potatoes and other produce in 1983. It operates a Gleaning Network and Potato & Produce Project that salvage unpicked usable produce. It has regional offices in six Southern states and gleaning operations in 14 states. Steven M. Waldmann is executive director. Contact 434-299-5956.
  • The Souper Bowl of Caring mobilizes young people to do something about hunger and poverty. Born of church youth groups in Columbia, S.C., in 1990 and pegged to Super Bowl weekend, by 2009 the event generated more than $10 million for anti-hunger and poverty groups. The next event is Feb. 7, 2010. Find local participating groups. Media contact is Tracy Bender, 803-788-3746, tracy@souperbowl.org.

INDIVIDUALS

  • Max Finberg is director of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He formerly headed the Alliance to End Hunger. Contact 202-720-2032.
  • Roshi Bernie Glassman founded Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, N.Y., for spiritual, ethical and social reasons. He can talk about the relationships between Buddhist ideas about responsibility, ethical work (which Buddhists call “right livelihood”), food as sustenance and compassion. Glassman is now at Zen Peacemakers in Montague, Mass., and continues to generate ideas and programs for socially engaged Buddhism. He taught at Harvard Divinity School. Contact 413-367-2080.
  • L. Shannon Jung is professor of town and country ministries at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo. His newest book is Hunger & Happiness: Feeding the Hungry, Nourishing Our Souls. He has written extensively about food, farming and justice. Contact 816-245-4862, Shannon.jung@spst.edu.
  • June Kim is executive secretary of World Hunger/Poverty and Sustainable Agriculture and Development for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. She is involved in interfaith hunger relief efforts. Contact her through Michelle Scott in the UMCOR communications office, 212-870-3815, mscott@gbgm-umc.org.
  • Imam Mohamed Magid is imam and executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in the Washington, D.C., area. He spoke at the second Interfaith Convocation on Hunger at Washington National Cathedral in 2007. Mosque members do regular community service with the homeless. Contact 703-433-1325 ext. 105.
  • Mark Winne is a former director of the Hartford Food System. In 2001 he won the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary’s Plow Honor Award. He is the author of the 2008 book Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty and is working on a new book to be published in 2010. Contact win5m@aol.com.

Regional sources

STATE BY STATE

Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest) is a network of food banks in all 50 states. Search its database by ZIP code or state for a local food depository. It also lists local food bank media contacts.

Other anti-hunger organizations that post contact information for local affiliates:

IN THE NORTHEAST

IN THE EAST

  • The Baltimore Food & Faith Project is concerned with food issues. It was begun in 2007 by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. Contact project director Angela Smith, 410-502-5069.
  • Joel Berg is author of All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? and is executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. His anti-hunger work includes experience with faith-based groups. Contact 212-825-0028 ext. 204.
  • Gary W. Fick is professor of agronomy at Cornell University and author of Food, Farming and Faith. Contact 607-255-1704.
  • Mark E. Graham wrote Sustainable Agriculture: A Christian Ethic of Gratitude. He teaches theology and religious studies at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa. Contact 610-519-4703.
  • John Mellor is an agricultural economist and world hunger expert based in Washington, D.C. He received the Presidential Award from Ronald Reagan for his work to reduce hunger in the world. Contact 202-347-8802.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

IN THE SOUTH

IN THE MIDWEST

  • The Rev. Clare Butterfield is director of Faith in Place, a creation care ministry in Chicago. It promotes sustainability. Contact 312-733-4640, clare@faithinplace.org.
  • Craig Gundersen is associate professor in the department of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research, much of it national, focuses on food insecurity issues. Contact 217-333-2857, cggunder@illinois.edu.
  • Jack R. Kloppenburg Jr. is a professor in the department of community and environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He teaches a course called Food, Culture and Society, which explores hunger issues. Contact 608-262-6867, jrkloppe@wisc.edu.
  • The Rime Buddhist Center in Kansas City, Mo., does regular community service feeding the homeless. Lama Chuck Stanford is spiritual director. Contact 816-471-7073.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

  • The Community Food Security Coalition in Portland, Ore., is a national organization that works to build local and regional food systems that provide affordable and nutritious food for everyone. It has 200 member organizations and a Food & Faith Committee. Contact executive director Andy Fisher, 503-954-2970, andy@foodsecurity.org.
  • Earth Ministry includes congregational activists in the Puget Sound, Wash., area. It is interested in creation care and eco-justice, including food issues. Contact executive director LeeAnne Beres, 206-632-2426 ext. 14.
  • Food Lifeline in Seattle is Washington state’s largest hunger relief agency. It has statistics on the people it serves. Media contact is Kristen Damazio, 206-545-6600.
  • Created by the state Legislature in 1989, the Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force promotes awareness, compiles research and works on public policy change. One in six Oregonians – a record number – received SNAP (food stamp) benefits in June 2009. Oregon Faith Roundtable Against Hunger is a partner organization. Contact Jessica Chanay, task force program and communications director, 503-595-5501 ext. 305; contact Norene Goplen of the Roundtable, ngoplen@lcsnw.org.
  • San Francisco Zen Center does food distribution for the homeless. Buddhists view community service as the practice of compassion. Contact 415-354-0379.
  • Michael Schut is the Seattle-based author of Food & Faith: Justice, Joy and Daily Bread. He is the associate program officer for economic and environmental affairs in the Seattle regional office of the Advocacy Center of the Episcopal Church. Contact mschut@episcopalchurch.org.


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